Lawrenceville’s indie Row House Cinema set to reopen with themed film series
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Lawrenceville’s indie movie theater, Row House Cinema, will reopen Sept. 3 after an 18-month, pandemic-driven closure.
“Our whole staff is basically relearning how to run a movie theater this summer, and we’ve got some fantastic programming lined up for the remainder of 2021,” owner Brian Mendelssohn said.
Film club members will have exclusive access to the theater and private screenings set for Aug. 20-Sept. 2, as a thank-you for their support during the closure.
After closing March 15, 2020, at the onset of the pandemic, the theater relied on virtual programming, popcorn sales, private screenings and the adjoining bottle shop, Bierport, to stay afloat, Mendelssohn said.
“We can’t tell you how excited we are to start showing movies again,” he said
Following the member thank-you events, the theater will hold a three-week soft opening before a grand reopening event on Sept. 25. That sold-out gala will include a screening of “Pulp Fiction,” the first movie shown in the theater at 4115 Butler St.
The soft opening will feature three chronologically arranged film series, including:
• 1950s Cinema, Sept. 3-9 — “Godzilla,” the original 1954 monster movie classic; “Night of the Hunter,” the 1955 film-noir great following a serial killing preacher in the Deep South; and “Some Like it Hot,” starring Marilyn Monroe in the 1959 Billy Wilder comedy.
• 1970s Cinema, Sept. 10-16 — “Grey Gardens,” a 1975 documentary that revisits the infamous Long Island summer home of two reclusive relatives of Jackie Kennedy Onassis; “Harold and Maude,” a 1971 film about two oddballs who meet and become inseparable despite a half-century age difference; “Fantastic Planet,” a thoughtful and beautifully animated French sci-fi classic from 1973; and “Dog Day Afternoon,” a 1975 Al Pacino classic about a bizarre bank robbery unfolding in Brooklyn.
• 1990s Cinema, Sept. 17-24 — “10 Things I Hate About You,” quintessential ’90s rom-com in which surly teens find love; “Pleasantville,” a 1998 film about two teens who find themselves in the idyllic society of a a 1950s sitcom; “Trainspotting,” the 1996 British black comedy about a crew of heroin addicts stumbling through life; and “La Haine,” a black-and-white French film from 1995, following three teens, a gun and the aftermath of riots.
During the soft opening, there will be fewer show times than usual and some service reductions while the theater gears up.
Theatergoers are able to purchase beverages at Bierport and bring them into the theater.
As of Sept. 25, the theater will operate normally and will show some of the theater’s most popular movies, Mendelssohn said.
“It’s about time we bring awesome movies back to Butler Street,” Mendelssohn said. “Our whole staff is so grateful to those who supported us throughout our closure in big and small ways.”
Details: rowhousecinema.com